Field wakes up…

There’s a kind of magical moment between winter and spring, as the snow rapidly disappears and the water runs off. It lasts only a couple of days. Unusual sights are everywhere you look. I watch it closely every year, but this time around, with the blog-and-camera habit by now well-ingrained, I’m appreciating it more. I found garlic earlier than ever, only a few hours after emerging from months buried under snow with little or no light. The color is odd, I’m used to GREEN, but they look healthy, so I guess they need some sunlight to put on a little color. At the lower, south end of the field, the melting snow runoff gathers in a giant puddle, 40 or 50 feet (12-15m) across at its widest, and a few inches deep. This field has good drainage, so the puddle doesn’t stick around long, shrinking by the hour and vanishing entirely within two or three days. This year, the residue of the oats cover crop added a bit of a surreal dimension, as a bleached gold beach, and wavy underwater like seaweed. When you focus tightly and think miniature (like a kid would!), it’s a crazy little inland sea-for-a-day… All over, the little details of melt-off, looked at up close, are entirely odd and gone soon…

So much inspiration in a plant’s urge to grow. You’re right about the little window before everything goes crazy (with growth and with work). Marvelous photos as usual. Perhaps you’ve said this somewhere before, but would you mind repeating what camera you use? Thanks!

The first year I caught daffodils at that “just woke up” pale color. I was pretty worried about them – but it only takes a little bit of sun to “green them up.” I find that the “edges” of things always makes me “see” more – edges of the seasons, edges of the field (or, in my case, of the “row”), edges of the plant leaf – maybe it’s the contrast at the edge. Awesome camera – gotta love that macro lens! Thanks so much for your continued sharing of your world!

Exuberant Lady: Thanks! I’m happy you’re enjoying the pics. :The camera is a Canon G9. I got it maybe a month ago. Before that, it was a Canon PowerShot S45.

kmom246: The idea of edges is cool! I like to take things literally sometimes, so when I read your comment, I started looking around at EDGES for a while. I got dizzy! I know that’s not only exactly literally what you meant, but looking at everything starting with the edges and joins and intersections is a good way to trick yourself into taking a fresh look at the most ordinary things that you normally hardly notice… :)